Saturday, 11 July 2015

Breakfast at Home, Lunch at the Musee D'Orsay, Enjoying Works of Art by the Impressionists at the Musee D'Orsay and L'Orangerie, A Note on Ignoramuses, Ice Cream on Pont Neuf, Tour of Paris by Boat, Dinner at Home with Properly Cooked Eggs for a Change

Today was yet another late start as we continued to be run down and exhausted from the cruise and then our long sightseeing day in Paris the previous day. April was still getting agonizing stomach cramps after each meal even though she was done her course of antibiotics for her severe food poisoning from the cruise.

We had breakfast at home again with fresh bread and croissants from the bakery and French yoghurt and cheese. The Livarot cheese was so fragrant that even after finishing it, the package was stinking up the whole apartment and had to be disposed of. Delicious but makes you wonder . . .

We took the metro to the Musee D'Orsay and started with lunch in the cafe overlooking the Seine River. The Nicoise like salad that April had could have been better, but after the cruise, she felt grateful for even a mediocre salad.

The Musee D'Orsay has Impressionist paintings and it was jam-packed with people. There were lots of Americans around snapping photos of the paintings and commenting on them in twangy accents (music to our ears after that cruise). In particular at the Musee D'Orsay, Bill and April enjoyed the Manet (not Monet, but he's swell too), Renoir, Van Gogh, and Gauguin. There was so much talent on display and many of the underappreciated artists were just as good as the celebrated ones. Fame is fickle.

We walked over to the Tuilleries again where L'Orangerie (the old orange growing building of the king) is. It has further Impressionist works including Monet's water lily panels. We were more interested in further Renoir paintings and Derain whose paintings are gorgeous.

Unfortunately, both galleries were packed with people and it was hard to move around and in some cases even glimpse the paintings. Also, a large group of twenty something year old men in the Musee D'Orsay laughing, making very loud rude comments, cat calling, and all posing together for pictures in front of a nude female painting ("L'Origine du Monde" or "The Origin of the World" by Gustave Courbet) made us feel chagrined. If those men have mothers (seems possible they were just raised by wolves) they should understand where babies come from. It is our hope that they will not find anyone to breed with. In some ways it felt as if more than half the people had just been dumped into the galleries without any interest in art and were just there because they felt they had to be, someone dragged them there, or that it would make them look cultured (it did not).

Feeling fortunate enough to have witnessed so much beauty over the last two days, we left L'Orangerie, grabbed a "natural" ice cream at a cart in the Tuilleries and then crossed the Pont Neuf again (the bridge with all the padlocks locked to it where people throw the key in La Seine to show their everlasting love for each other).

We walked up La Seine looking for a river tour and found a Batobus terminal (Saint-Germain-Des-Pres). For those familiar with the Bateau Mouches, this is the same sort of tour of Paris on La Seine river. Our pass gave us unlimited hop on and hop off ability for the entire day. We took the entire circle tour, going up as far north as the Botanical Gardens, through nine different stops, the furthest south being the mini Statue of Liberty, and then ended at the stop before the one we started at, the Musee D'Orsay stop. Being tired (April was falling asleep sitting up on the tour like a narcoleptic), we decided to end the tour.

We took the metro home and were so tired that we decided to eat dinner at home. Bill prepared scrambled eggs. To have properly cooked eggs was such a treat and a taste of home.

It was 32 degrees Centigrade today and though it was sticky hot out in Paris, the apartment was cool and we slept well after walking 10 kilometres.

Bill awaits his lunch in the cafe in the Musee D'Orsay

April admiring Renoir at the Musee D'Dorsay

Renoir knew all about cat love

April at the Musee D'Orsay

Kissing selfie on the Pont Neuf (lock bridge)

More Renoir at the L'Orangerie

River tour revealed all sorts of delights like gold leaf bridges and the Statue of Liberty